The Tigers’ bullpen was stretched thin today after starter Robbie Ray lasted just 3 1/3 innings against the Rangers, so position player Danny Worth got a chance to make his first career relief appearance. He was awesome.

Worth showed off a surprisingly good knuckleball in a scoreless inning of work. After allowing a leadoff single to Chris Gimenez, he struck out Michael Choice swinging before getting Luis Sardinas to line out and Leonys Martin looking on a called third strike to end the frame. Matt Slovin of MLB.com notes that Worth is the first Tigers’ position player to pitch a full inning since Willie Smith did it on September 25, 1963.

Check it out below:

Your browser does not support iframes.

It looks like Worth has a pretty good backup plan if his career as a position player fizzles out.

The Tigers have made a habit of big splashes in the offseasons. Three years ago, it was Victor Martinez. Then Prince Fielder. Last winter, the Tigers signed both Anibal Sanchez and Torii Hunter. Those deals have helped them reach the postseason each year, but the ultimate prize has remained out of reach.

As the Tigers enter this winter with a new manager in Brad Ausmus, it worth wondering just how high the payroll can go. Even with Jhonny Peralta, Joaquin Benoit, Omar Infante, Octavio Dotel and Jose Veras off the books, their current group weighs in at $156 million according to my arbitration guesstimates. That would already be a new franchise high and it’s without making a single addition.

Just look at all of those arbitration cases. The Tigers have eschewed multiyear deals with youngsters, always going year to year instead. It’s going to catch up with them this year, with the rotation of Scherzer, Fister and Porcello likely to nearly double what they earned last season.

If there are any non-tenders, they’re likely to come from the cheaper players. Coke would seem be the most likely candidate. Non-tendering Kelly and re-signing him to a minor league deal could also work, though that’ll be a minimal money saver.

An obvious choice to free up cash is to trade a starter. Scherzer would bring back a top-notch position player. Porcello wouldn’t, but the Tigers could make themselves better and cheaper at the same time by trading him for a young reliever and moving Smyly to the rotation.

As is. the Tigers need a second baseman, at least two relievers and a utilityman. But that’s not making much of a splash, unless the second baseman happens to be Robinson Cano. I think that’s a big long shot. The Tigers already have Verlander’s salary jumping to $28 million in 2015, and they have to start thinking about an extension for Cabrera, who is a free agent after 2015.

So, what are we looking at? If the Tigers want Infante back for second, that’s going to cost $6 million-$7 million per year on a two- or three-year deal. A closer from the group of Joe Nathan, Brian Wilson and Grant Balfour is going to cost around $10 million per year. Just those two signings would push the Tigers over $170 million without providing any sort of upgrade (Benoit, while not a great bet as a closer going forward, was very valuable last season).

That puts the ball in owner Mike Ilitch’s court. If he wants to add another star, he’s looking at the AL’s second highest payroll, something in the $180 million-$190 million range. It’s a full $30 million higher than he’s ever gone before. Certainly, Shin-Soo Choo or Jacoby Ellsbury would look great at the top of the order. It’d take a whole lot of dough, but it’s the kind of addition Tigers fans are expecting after coming up just a bit short again.

Jose Iglesias is nearly recovered from his bruised left hand and is likely to serve as Detroit’s primary shortstop in October. Peralta has been working in left field in instructional league games down in Florida and could get regular looks there this postseason.

Peralta, a client of Anthony Bosch and Biogenesis, was hitting .305/.361/.461 with 11 home runs and 54 RBI in 104 games before accepting MLB’s punishment without an appeal. He will be a free agent this winter.